f  SPEAKERS' 
\  HANDBOOK 

of 

American  Committee  fo 
Relief  in  the  Near 
East 


Headquarters 
ONE  MADISON  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAG* 

Introduction— To  You!   ••   6 

President  Wilson's .  Appeal     | 

Speakers'  Co-operation      n 

Facts  About  the  Need.     13 

Facts  About  the  Work    •  •  • 

Testimony  of  Eye-witnesses  ;    24,  25 

g&ftr  of  the"  PeWles"  Who"  Come  Under  the  Committers  Care-  

Armenians     

Syrians   .    „, 

Greeks      K 

Persians    . . .... •  •  •  •  •.•iv     £o 

No  Government  Aid  Available     39 

How   Some  Give.. -i'V * (Eiiract  from   1918  Bulletin  of 
Connection   with   American    Kea    Lross    i»   39 

End o^LerTof  SUtV  Councils  'if  "Defense'. '. '.     i  •  ■  ■  •  •  •  •  | ' " ; ;  \  \  ]  44 

Testimony  from  U.  S.  Consular  Agents     46 

Endorsements  of  Public  Men..     43 

Motion  Pictures  to  Aid  Campaign  


INDEX 


A  PAGE 

Artin  Pasha,  Testimony  of   46 

C 

Children  eat  dead  camel   22 

Children  starving  in  streets 


Common  Case,  A  ;  21 

Cotton-spinning  and  weaving.....  lo 
Councils    of    Defense,  Endorse- 

mcnts  of    42 

D 

Daniels,  Josephus,  Endorsement  of  47 

Davi9,  Testimony  of   44 

Deportation  in  Asia  Minor   34 

Devotion  of  Missionaries   22 

E 

Ellis,  Wm.  T.,  Endorsement  of...  43 

Expedition  to  Persia   38 

Expedition  to  Turkey   1" 

F 

Food  Distribution   26 

H 

Hughes,  Charles  E.,  Endorsement 


N  PAGi 

Not  sharing,  but  giving  their  all..  43 
O 

Orphanage  outside  Jaffa   1* 

Orphanages   •  •  •  •  •  •  •  >,  ij> 

Orphans— "Of  such  is  the  kingdom  29 

P 

People  eat  Blood  from  Slaughter 

houses   

R 

Red  Cross  and  Armenian  Relief...  39 

Refugees  eagej  to  work   15 

Refugees  in  Jerusalem   " 

Roosevelt,  Theodore.  Endorsement 
of   


27 


46 


of 


47 


Scramble  for  Melon  Rind   23 

Starving  help  each  other   27 

Story  of  Seeraa   20 

Stripped  in  the  Wilderness   29 

Suffering  Children  at  Aleppo  18 

Syria,  From  a  Relief  Worker  in..  22 


Immediate  Relief — Food  Distribu- 
tion   11 

Industrial  Work    14 

L 

Lansing,  Robert,  Endorsement  of.  47 

Last  Lap,  The   23 

M 

Medical  Work    13 

Missionaries,  Devotion  of   22 

Motion  Pictures   48 

Mott,  John  R.,  Endorsement  of..  48 


Taft,  William   Howard,  Endorse- 
ment of    46 

Tarlar,  C.  Cornell,  Testimony  of..  45 
Toll  of  Famine,  The   27 

U 

Unburied  Dead  left  in  Streets...  26 
W 

"Widows  and  Fatherless"   28 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  Endorsement  of  46 
Woman  abandons  Child   23 


TO  YOU 

America  avowedly  entered  the  war  to  fight  for  national 
and  international  democracy  and  the  rights  of  little  nations, 
ine  war  has  been  won  on  the  battlefield,  but  Victory  comes 
^  to-day  not  with  the  irresponsible  gaiety  of  the  childhood  of 
the  race,  but  with  the  grave  responsibility  of  maturity,  eyes 
of  purpose  and  hands  of  construction  to  build  a  better  world 
There  is  not  an  individual  among  us  who  does  not  share 
this  responsibility  and  this  purpose.  The  question  with  the 
rank  and  file  of  Americans  is  simply— where  to  begin  ? 

The  whole  world,  beyond  our  borders,  seems  broken, 
bleeding  and  in  need. 

Yet  there  is  nowhere  that  the  trail  of  war  has  more  shat- 
tenngly  passed,  nor  over  a  more  innocent  non-combatant 
I      Population,  than  in  the  Near  East.   Massacre  we  have  seen 
before,  but  it  remained  for  1915  to  show  us  the  more  refined 
horrors  of  deportation,  when  the  Turks  drove  out  of  their 
territory  nearly  3,000,000  peaceable  non-Moslem  inhabitants 
Armenians,  Greeks,  and  others,  many  of  whose  ancestry  had 
dwelt  in  the  land  as  far  back  as  history  records.   The  need 
of  these  deported  innocent  people  of  the  Near  East,  in  a  time 
of  almost  universal  need,  is  overwhelmingly  greater  than 
that  of  any  other  people  in  the  world.  They  are  more  widely 
scattered  and  hopelessly  destitute.   A  whole  nation  is  utterly 
dependent  upon  the  mercy  of  strangers.   Tens  of  thousands 
have  died.    The  survivors  have  reached  precarious  safety 
in  lands  where  starvation  was  already  following  on  the  heels 
of  war,  and  where  the  hosts  could  only  share  famine  with 
their  guests. 


Grea«  Britain  is  doing  her  share  to  help  than  hut  his  to 
America,  least  of  all  sufferers  of  he  wa r  tha  J 
,  1  f  niri  Thev  need  the  actual  means  ot  lite,  incy 
^tstarXanew,  and  they  need f  rehahUhat.on jn 
"he  homes  from  which  they  have  wrongfully  and  cruelly 
been  driven.  .  . 

This  booklet  is  planned  to  present  the  mam  facts  in  an 
easily  available  form  for  the  use  of  those  speakers,  both 
x  erienced  and  inexperienced,  whose  sympat hy  with  * 
work  and  purposes  of  the  American  Committee  fo  Rehe 
in  the  Near  East  urges  them  to  place  these  facts ^b  fore  he 
American  public  in  the  effort  to  collect  the  $30  000,000 
which  is  the  necessary  minimum  for  the  rescue  and  recon- 
struction of  these  little  martyr  nations. 

Already  in  the  Near  East  the  flag  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
is  the  symbol  of  liberty  and  friendship.  Let  us  lift  it  higher 
yet,  let  us  show  the  Land  of  the  Almighty  Dollar  as  the 
land  of  great  givers,  the  leader  in  practice  as  well  as  in 
ideals  in  the  new  esprit  de  corps  among  nations  which  knows 
that  if  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it. 

Here  is  a  part  of  our  task  of  laying  the  foundations  of  a 
new  world.  Let  us  lay  them  generously,  not  niggardly  in 
effort  or  design,  and  may  every  man,  woman  and  child  in 
America  share  to  the  utmost  in  the  work. 

17  cents  keeps  a  destitute  Armenian  child  for  a  day. 
$5.00  keeps  one  for  a  month. 
$60.00  keeps  one  for  a  year. 

$30,000,000  will  restart  the  little  nations  of  the  Near 
East  in  a  resumption  of  national  life. 


4 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  APPEAL 

For  more  than  three  years  American  philanthropy  has 
been  a  large  factor  in  keeping  alive  Armenian,  Syrian,  Greek 
and  other  exiles  and  refugees  of  Western  Asia. 

On  two  former  occasions  I  have  appealed  to  the  Ameri- 
can people  on  behalf  of  these  homeless  sufferers,  whom  the 
vicissitudes  of  war  and  massacre  had  brought  to  the  ex- 
tremest  need. 

The  response  has  been  most  generous,  but  now  the  period 
of  rehabilitation  is  at  hand.  Vastly  larger  sums  will  be 
required  to  restore  these  once  prosperous,  but  now  impov- 
erished, refugees  to  their  former  homes  than  were  required 
merely  to  sustain  life  in  their  desert  exile. 

It  is  estimated  that  about  4,000,000  Armenian,  Syrian, 
Greek  and  other  war  sufferers  in  the  Near  East  will  require 
outside  help  to  sustain  them  through  the  winter.  Many  of 
them  are  now  hundreds  of  miles  from  their  homeland.  The 
vast  majority  of  them  are  helpless  women  and  children, 
including  400,000  orphans. 

The  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the  Near  East  is 
appealing  for  a  minimum  of  $30,000,000  to  be  subscribed 
January  12-19,  1919,  with  which  to  meet  the  most  urgent 
needs  of  these  people. 

^  I,  therefore,  again  call  upon  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  make  even  more  generous  contributions  than  they 
have  made  heretofore  to  sustain  through  the  winter  months 
those  who,  through  no  fault  of  their  own,  have  been  left  in 
a  starving,  shelterless  condition,  and  to  help  reestablish  these 
ancient  and  sorely  oppressed  people  in  their  former  homes 
on  a  self-supporting  basis. 

WOODROW  WILSON. 

The  White  House, 
29  November,  1918. 


5 


SPEAKERS'  COOPERATION 
I    Keeping  in  touch  with  Speakers'  Bureaus. 

a-T*e  National  Speakers'  Bureau  has  four  divisions 
with  offices  as  follows: 

Eastern:  Mr.  John  H.  Cover,  1  Madison  avenue, 
New  York. 

Central:    Mr.  Alonzo  E.  Wilson,  106  North  La 

Salle  street,  Chicago,  Illinois. 
Mountain:  Mr.  Wilbur  F.  Deniows,  1700  Stout 

street,  Denver. 
Western:   Speakers'  Bureau,  333  Mills  Building, 
San  Francisco,  Cal. 
In  addition  each  state,  county  and  city  will  have  its 
Bureau. 

b— Many  organizations  such  as  the  Red  Cross,  State 
Councils  of  Defence,  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Y. 
M.  C.  A.,  Y.  W.  C.  A„  Knights  of  Columbus  and 
Jewish  organizations,  are  cooperating  with  us.  The 
speaker  should  bear  this  in  mind,  availing  himself 
of  the  opportunity  of  their  assistance. 

C_A  detailed  record  of  every  meeting  scheduled  or 
completed,  with  the  name  of  the  chairman,  should 
be  forwarded  to  the  local,  state  or  national  office. 
Cards  for  this  purpose  are  supplied  by  the  Speakers' 
Bureaus. 

d — The  speaker  should  be  sure  to  keep  himself  supplied 
with  pamphlets  for  distribution  and  especially  with 
pledge  cards  and  pencils.  He  can  also  obtain  from 
the  local  Speakers'  Bureau : 

1.  Lantern  slides  with  a  prepared  lecture  to  ac- 
company them. 

2.  Posters  and  printed  material. 


II.    The  appeal  for  funds. 

Great  importance  attaches  to  the  method  used  in  the 

Denot'  |2? her!4fh°Uld  *  SUPPlie^  Pledge  cards  and 
penals  before  the  meeting  begins,  and  instructed  as 
to  their  distribution,  to  be  made  at  a  definite  cue 
from  the  speaker  near  the  end  of  the  address.  The 
collection  of  cash  contributions  and  pledges  should 
take  place  immediately  after  the  appeal  is  made  in 
its  final  and  most  emphatic  form  by  the  speaker 
himself  or  by  some  one  whom  he  has  previously 
asked  to  make  it. 

$30,000,000  is  the  least  that  can  be  asked  for  to 
meet  adequately  the  most  pressing  demands  of  the 
dependent  peoples  of  the  Near  East.  More  could 
be  used,  but  $30,000,000  we  must  have 


7 


FACTS  ABOUT  THE  NEED 
Carefully  prepared  estimates  based  on  reports  that  have 
come  to  the  American  Committee  for  Relief  m th Near 
East  from  every  part  where  work  ,s  earned .on,  » 
workers  on  the  field,  returned  Ambassadors,  Consuls  M  s 
sionaries,  business  men,  teachers  statem  n  recew  d 
through  the  Swedish  Legation,  and  careful  examma  .on 
of  the  files  of  the  State  Department  make  .t  clear  hat 
at  least  3,950,000  people  in  the  Near  East  are  dest.tute 
re  f  ucrees 

At  the  present  time  the  Red  Cross  has  taken  over  re- 
sponsibility for  a  large  part  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  thus 
reducing  the  number  of  the  extremely  destitute  depending 
immediately  upon  this  Committee  by  1,050,000.  This  leaves 
absolutely  dependent  upon  the  work  of  the  relief  measures 
for  the  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the  Near  East,  a 
total  of  2,900,000  souls  all  accessible,  all  in  desperate  need. 
Of  this  number,  the  best  estimate  obtainable  indicates  400,- 
000  orphans  without  fathers,  but  some  with  living  mothers 
with  no  means  of  support. 

The  same  estimate  based  upon  the  most  reliable  informa- 
tion obtainable  from  Consular  and  relief  agents'  reports, 
show  that  1,770,000  of  these  destitute  sufferers  are  away 
from  their  homes,  having  been  driven  out  by  the  authorities, 
many  of  whom  are  in  Arabia,  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  the 
Caucasus  and  Siberia,  while  there  are  large  numbers  who 
have  been  sent  to  remote  districts  within  the  Turkish 
Empire. 

ESTIMATE  BASED  ON  FACTS 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  actual  cost  of  repatriating  and 
reestablishing  these  people  and  of  supplying  their  imme- 
diate needs  for  food  and  clothing  until  they  can  be  reestab- 


lished  and  put  upon  a  self-supporting  basis.    We  submit 

the  following,  however,  as  the  lowest  possible  estimate  based 

upon  the  most  accurate  obtainable  figures. 

2,900,000  needy  and  accessible  people,  of  whom  a 
large  proportion  will  be  dependent  upon  aid 
from  without  for  six  months  at  least.  We  es- 
timate $5.00  per  capita  for  the  six  months  as 
the  lowest  figure  possible,  making  a  total  of.  .$14,500,000 

1,770,000  exiles  and  refugees  to  be  repatriated, 
some  of  them  to  be  carried  a  thousand  miles  to 
their  homes.  Giving  an  average  of  400  miles 
per  person,  estimated  cost  $3.00  per  capita..  5,310,000 

400,000  orphans  included  among  the  above  refu- 
gees to  be  provided  with  orphan  homes  at  their 
destinations.  Estimated  cost  $10.00  per  capita 
for  the  creation  of  the  home   4,000,000 

Seeds  for  sowing,  farm  tractors,  implements  and 
tools,  cattle,  sheep,  motor  trucks,  autos,  etc.,  to 
set  up  these  people  after  they  return  upon  land 
with  facilities  for  cultivation   2,500,000 

Providing  of  houses  for  1,770,000  returning 
refugees  which  so  far  as  reports  show  have 
been  largely  destroyed  or  rendered  uninhabit- 
able without  extensive  repairs,  estimated  that 
50,000  houses  will  be  required  at  a  cost  of  av- 
erage of  $50.00  each   2,500,00^ 

Clothing  for  at  least  2,900,000  needy,  including 
the  orphan  children,  and  bedding,  of  which 
they  are  mostly  destitute,  at  an  average  of 
$4.00  per  person   8,000,000 


Total  required  to  cover  period  of  six  months. $36, 810,000 

9 


MUST    BE  OVERSUBSCRIBED 

In  making  the  above  statement  public,  the  Committee, 
through  its  secretary,  C.  V.  Vickrey,  stated: 

"Our  Committee  on  Estimates  has  been  laboring  night 
and  day  for  weeks  trying  to  bring  our  estimates  of  needs 
within  the  compass  of  our  prospective  receipts.  The  first 
budget  prepared,  which  the  Committee  thought  to  be  the 
minimum  of  requirements,  amounted  to  $118,500,000,  and 
even  this  did  not  include  all  of  the  real  needs. 

"At  the  conference  in  New  York,  September  19-20,  a 
further  drastic  reduction  of  the  budget  to  $56,100,000  was 
made.  Recognizing,  however,  that  the  sum  of  $30,000,000 
had  already  been  announced  as  the  financial  goal  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  present  year,  and  that  a  great  many  war 
chests  and  other  local  committees  had  made  their  plans  on 
the  basis  of  $30,000,000  the  Committee  was  requested  to 
make  further  reductions  in  the  budget,  which  they  have 
done,  with  the  present  total  of  $36,800,000. 

"We  of  course,  cannot  meet  the  need  even  as  outlined  in 
this  reduced  budget  on  a  $30,000,000  basis,  and  are  earn- 
estly hoping  for  oversubscriptions  that  will  provide  for  the 
additional  need.  If  over-subscriptions  are  not  given  to  us 
it  means  that  some  of  the  destitute  people  must  continue  to 
suffer  while  we  help  as  many  as  possible  with  the  resources 
placed  at  our  command.' 


10 


FACTS  ABOUT  THE  WORK 


The  work  being  done  can  be  grouped  under  four  divi- 
sions : 

Immediate  Relief 
Medical  Work 
Orphanages 
Industrial  Work 

Of  these  the  most  valuable  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  future  is  the  last,  and  as  soon  as  immediate  relief  has 
been  administered  it  is  the  desire  of  the  Committee  to  estab- 
lish industrial  centres  at  all  places  where  refugees  are  con- 
gregated, not  only  for  the  new  zest  in  life  imparted  by  work 
to  broken  and  weary  spirits  and  bodies,  but  also  for  the  re- 
vival of  natural  economic  conditions  in  war-paralyzed  dis- 
tricts. 

IMMEDIATE  RELIEF 

Some  idea  of  the  meaning  of  immediate  relief  may  be 
gained  from  the  following  excerpts  from  recent  reports: 

"Cairo,  Egypt,  May  3,  1918. 

"I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  hundred  and  fifty  odd 
new  refugees  who  filed  wearily  into  the  Armenian  camp  at 
Port  Said  a  week  ago  last  Saturday.  *  *  *  They  were 
mostly  women  and  children,  the  weariest,  illest,  raggedest, 
dirtiest  set  of  people  I  had  ever  seen.  They  did  exactly  as 
they  were  told,  for  it  seemed  they  had  no  spirit  left  to  do 
otherwise.  About  fifteen  were  taken  right  into  the  hospital 
including  one  fifteen  days  old  baby.  As  one  watched  these 
people  one  thought  of  the  thousands  who  have  not  been  able 
to  reach  such  a  refuge,  but  have  fallen  by  the  wayside,  too 
weak  to  go  further.  As  soon  as  the  doctor  had  made  a  rapid 
examination  of  them  all  in  quarantine,  they  were  ordered 

ll 


out  and  grouped  according  to  families,  while  three  of  us 
took  down   their  names,  ages,  and  family  relationships. 

*  *  *  All  of  them  had  been  driven  out  of  their  homes  three 
years  ago,  and  have  been  wandering  and  living  with  the 
Arabs  south  of  the  Dead  Sea  ever  since. 

"On  Tuesday  as  soon  as  the  clothes  had  been  made  ready, 
they  all  came  in  groups  of  ten,  took  off  their  old  clothes 
in  Tent  1,  got  into  hospital  garments,  went  into  a  hot  bath, 
came  out  to  Tent  2,  where  they  got  two  complete  sets  of 
new  clothes,  and  went  into  Tent  3,  to  dress.  The  heads 
were  all  examined  and  those  that  needed  it  were  shaved. 

*  *  *  All  old  clothes  were  afterwards  burned  up,  as  they 
were  incredibly  ragged  and  dirty.  That  night  I  heard  that 
they  had  never  even  seen  soap  since  they  had  left  their 
homes.  When  school  opens  on  Thursday  there  will  be 
special  classes  for  these  60  new  children  of  school  age.  *  *  * 
Fortunately  there  is  a  new  school  building  just  being  fin- 
ished, so  there  will  be  two  tents  available  for  these  new 
classes." 

REFUGEES  IN  JERUSALEM 

"Jerusalem,  April  5,  1918. 
"The  past  week  has  been  a  period  of  intense  interest 
and  unusual  pressure  in  our  relief  work,  for  more  than  5,000 
refugees  have  arrived  from  the  towns  and  villages  east  of 
the  Jordan.  Early  Easter  morning  we  received  notification 
that  1,500  Armenians  were  on  their  way;  so  I  started  off  for 
Jericho  with  a  government  officer  and  a  truck  load  of  ra- 
tions. *  *  *  By  evening  210  Armenian  exiles  had  arrived, 
on  foot,  weary  and  hungry,  but  glad  to  be  in  the  Promised 
Land  of  British  rule.  Their  'Passover'  was  celebrated  that 
Easter  night  in  a  large  ruined  inn  in  Jericho,  and  their  Pass- 
over bread  was  army  biscuits.  Early  the  next  morning 
many  others  began  to  arrive.    After  the  morning  distribu- 

13 


tion  of  rations,  we  arranged  for  all  of  the  refugees  to  ride 
from  Jericho  to  Jerusalem  in  army  motor  trucks.  I  wish 
you  could  have  seen  their  faces  when  I  explained  to  them 
that  they  were  to  be  given  a  ride  all  the  way  up  the  hills  to 
Jerusalem. 

"On  Monday  morning  1,300  more  arrived  in  Jericho. 
The  rations  at  Jericho  and  the  ride  in  the  motor  trucks  to 
Jerusalem  were  the  first  acts  of  kindness  which  they  had 
met  with  in  three  years. 

"Great  numbers  of  Syrian  refugees,  both  Christians  and 
Moslems,  are  now  arriving  in  Jerusalem.  We  are  working 
night  and  day  to  provide  shelter  and  food  for  them*  *  * 
We  need  additional  appropriation  of  at  least  $25,000  per 
month  to  care  for  these  streams  of  homeless  people  suddenly 
brought  in  upon  us." 

MEDICAL  WORK 

Outbreaks  of  dysentery,  typhoid,  typhus,  and  cholera 
follow  closely  on  the  heels  of  starvation  and  the  eating  of 
putrid  flesh,  raw  grain  and  offal.  Without  medical  treat- 
ment and  large  supplies  of  medical  necessaries,  terrible  epi- 
demics will  inevitably  break  out  in  all  the  districts  where 
refugees  are  congregated.  As  it  is,  disease  is  rife,  and 
twenty  of  our  own  workers  and  missionaries  have  succumbed 
to  infection,  overwork  and  under-nourishment.  Hospitals 
and  dispensaries  are  being  established  as  quickly  as  possible, 
and  a  large  amount  of  out-patient  work  is  being  done. 
Medical  supplies  have  been  sent  in  large  quantities  to  in- 
fected areas,  and  more  will  be  sent.  Large  and  increasing 
funds  are  needed. 

ORPHANAGES 

Not  only  have  the  400,000  orphan  children  among  the 
refugees  to  be  cared  for,  but  orphanages  in  the  Caucasus 

13 


and  in  Palestine  have  had  to  be  saved  from  collapse  under 
the  overwhelming  pressure  of  high  prices  and  food  scarcity, 
or  their  present  inmates  would  perforce  be  turned  out  to 
swell  the  already  vast  numbers  of  starving  little  ones. 

In  Aleppo,  over  1,200  orphans  are  under  care.  In  the 
Russian  Caucasus,  some  10,000  children  already  in  Russian 
orphanages,  and  at  least  3,000  more  refugees  are  being  cared 
for  by  the  American  Committee. 

10,000  children  are  now  being  supported  at  relief  centers 
— being  fed,  educated,  and  taught  trades. 

This  work  is  most  urgent.  In  these  children  lies  the 
hope  of  Armenia  and  Syria,  Persia  and  Asia  Minor.  They 
are  the  raw  material  of  the  future. 


INDUSTRIAL  WORK 

This  is  in  many  ways  the  most  important  branch  of  our 
work  for  the  refugees,  weakened  and  tormented  as  they  are 
in  soul  as  in  body. 

First,  it  is  the  only  hope  of  continuing  to  supply  to 
these  people  the  means  of  subsistence.  The  importation  of 
food  and  clothing  to  an  idle  people  cannot,  of  course,  be  a 
permanent  arrangement. 

Second,  it  is  all  that  makes  life  worth  living  to  those 
whose  home,  friends,  and  occupation  have  been  swept  away. 

The  eagerness  of  the  response  among  the  Armenians  to 
this  kind  of  work  is  attested  by  Dr.  F.  W.  MacCallum  who 
has  been  carrying  on  rehabilitation  work  at  Van.    He  says : 

"The  thing  that  impressed  us  most  was  the  industry  and 
enterprise  of  the  people  themselves.  It  will  not  be  neces- 
sary to  do  everything  for  them.  All  they  need  is  a  little 
help  in  getting  started." 


U 


Refugees  Eager  to  Work 

Extract  from  a  letter  of  T.  D.  Heald :  "A  canal  for  carry- 
ing water  for  the  sixteen  miles  from  the  Zanga  river  at 
Erivan  to  the  town  of  Etchmiadzin  was  made  many  years 
ago,  but  owing  to  faulty  work  the  canal  had  never  served. 
Large  portions  of  the  canal  were  leaky,  and  in  course  of 
time  the  banks  in  many  places  had  broken  away. 

"The  town  authorities  at  Etchmiadzin  when  they  heard 
that  our  refugee  committee  was  considering  undertaking  the 
reconstruction  work,  immediately  sent  for  the  engineer  who 
originally  planned  the  work,  and  with  our  representatives 
surveyed  the  whole  length  to  see  what  could  be  done.  Great 
interest  was  taken  locally  in  the  proposed  work,  for  the 
town  of  Etchmiadzin  had  always  suffered  for  want  of  water, 
and  the  project  of  bringing  this  would  not  only  serve  the 
town  for  ordinary  house  uses,  but  also  lay  open  the  possibility 
of  new  expensive  watering  of  barren  desert  land  all  around 
the  town,  and  mean  a  considerable  increase  of  the  productive 
area. 

"We  started  work  with  a  gang  of  one  hundred  refugee 
men  under  the  advice  of  the  engineer  at  the  beginning  of 
March,  but  the  work  had  to  be  abandoned,  owing  to  the  dis- 
organization brought  about  by  the  approach  of  the  Turkish 
army,  and  the  impossibility  of  our  receiving  more  money 
for  our  refugee  work.  There  is  no  doubt  that  with  the  re- 
sumption of  relief  work  as  soon  as  the  district  can  again 
be  reached,  this  project  will  be  continued.  Nothing  could  be 
more  useful  to  the  local  population. 

"A  result  of  this  undertaking  was  an  approach  from  the 
Caucasian  railway  authorities  with  a  request  that  we  would 
organize  gangs  of  labor  amongst  the  refugees  and  take  con- 
trol of  the  extension  of  the  railway  into  the  town  of  Erivan 
from  its  present  terminus  about  two  miles  outside.  The  rail- 

15 


road  company  would  pay  the  wages,  if  we  would  do  the 
organizing  and  take  responsibility  for  the  work.  The 
Khurds  and  Tartars,  however,  destroyed  the  station  next 
beyond  Erivan,  and  cut  the  railway,  so  that  nothing  could 
be  done." 

Cotton  Spinning  and  Weaving 

Extract  from  letter  of  Theodore  A.  Elmer:  "Having 
arrived  in  Erivan  I  was  told  to  go  on  to  Etchmiadzin, 
and  open  new  work  in  Ashdarag,  a  town  lying  17  versts  to 
the  north.  I  had  great  difficulty  in  renting  a  house  as  the 
town  was  crowded,  not  only  by  refugees,  but  by  soldiers  and 
officers  of  the  Armenian  Army  which  was  preparing  to  go 
to  Erzroom.  Cotton  spinning  and  weaving  had  been  begun 
in  Etchmiadzin  by  Mr.  Gracey  for  the  refugees  before  he 
left  to  become  a  Captain  in  the  British  Army.  This  work  I 
took  over  and  extended  it.  When  I  left  we  had  40  looms 
weaving  cotton  cloth  which  was  used  for  making  under- 
clothing for  the  orphans.  Seven  hundred  women  were  em- 
ployed in  spinning  the  cotton  yarn  for  these  looms  besides 
a  great  many  others  who  wound  bobbins  and  prepared  the 
yarn  for  the  looms.  Forty  then  worked  the  looms.  Prac- 
tically every  person  employed  supported  an  entire  family  of 
refugees. 

"*  *  *  The  Monastery  authorities,  seeing  the  success  of 
our  cotton  shop,  asked  me  to  take  over  their  wool  shop, 
which  they  were  utterly  unable  to  make  go.  I  paid  their 
debts  to  1,000  refugee  women  who  had  spun  wool  for  them 
for  two  months  without  pay,  and  took  over  the  whole  busi- 
ness. The  Catholikos  gave  me  two  large  rooms  in  the  old 
refectory  of  the  monastery  close  beside  the  Cathedral  in 
which  to  carry  on  this  work.  My  greatest  difficulty  was  to 
find  trustworthy  men  to  oversee  this  work.  Here  we  em 
ployed  1,500  women  preparing  and  spinning  woolen  yarn 

16 


which  was  woven  into  cloth  for  the  purpose  of  clothing  the 
orphan  children.  No  cloth  could  be  bought  in  Etchmiadzin 
for  any  price.  After  getting  these  two  industries  under  way, 
I  started  a  similar  industry  in  the  town  of  Ashdarag.  Here 
we  also  employed  the  labor  of  refugee  men  in  building  roads 
and  improving  the  grounds  of  an  ancient  church." 

EXPEDITION  TO  TURKEY 

A  large  expedition  is  about  to  set  out  for  Turkey,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the 
Near  East,  for  investigation,  relief,  and  reconstruction  work. 
A  small  commission  of  prominent  Americans  will  accompany 
the  expedition,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Barton. 

Members  of  the  expedition  will  include  doctors,  nurses, 
sanitary  engineers,  teachers,  agriculturists,  expert  mechanics, 
chauffeurs  and  orphanage  superintendents.  The  cargo  will 
consist  of  canned  food  and  condensed  milk,  medicine  and 
serum,  hospital  equipment,  farm  tractors,  motor  lorries, 
clothing,  tools  and  other  necessaries. 

A  transport  has  been  furnished  by  the  government  to 
convey  this  expedition  to  Turkey. 

Lectures  on  the  character  and  habits  of  the  various  people 
to  be  dealt  with,  lessons  on  the  language,  and  other  courses 
will  be  given  on  board.  The  ship  will  be  a  floating  college, 
training  school  and  conference  on  its  three  weeks'  voyage. 


17 


TESTIMONY  OF  EYE  WITNESSES 

SUFFERING  CHILDREN  AT  ALEPPO 

A  German  eye-witness,  Dr.  Martin  Niepage,  gave  the 
following  account  to  the  German  Reichstag: 

"Opposite  the  German  Technical  School  at  Aleppo,  in 
which  we  are  engaged  in  teaching,  a  mass  of  about  four 
hundred  emaciated  forms,  the  remnant  of  such  convoys,  is 
lying  in  one  of  the  hans.  There  are  about  a  hundred  chil- 
dren (boys  and  girls)  among  them,  from  five  to  seven  years 
old.  Most  of  them  are  suffering  from  typhoid  and  dysen- 
tery. When  one  enters  the  yard,  one  has  the  impression  of 
entering  a  mad-house.  If  one  brings  them  food,  one  notices 
that  they  have  forgotten  how  to  eat.  Their  stomachs,  weak- 
ened by  months  of  starvation,  can  no  longer  assimilate 
nourishment.  If  one  gives  them  bread,  they  put  it  aside 
indifferently.  They  just  lie  there  quietly,  waiting  for  death. 
Amid  such  surroundings,  how  are  we  teachers  to  read  Ger- 
man Fairy  Stories  with  our  children,  or,  indeed,  the  story 
of  the  Good  Samaritan  in  the  Bible?  How  are  we  to  make 
them  decline  and  conjugate  irrelevant  words,  while  around 
them  in  the  yards  adjoining  the  German  Technical  School 
their  starving  fellow-countrymen  are  slowly  succumbing? 
Under  such  circumstances  our  educational  work  flies  in  the 
face  of  all  true  morality  and  becomes  a  mockery  of  human 
sympathy." 

What  are  the  facts  that  produced  these  results?  Im- 
mediately after  the  declaration  of  war,  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment drafted  all  the  able-bodied  men  into  the  army.  This 
depleted  the  ranks  of  the  farmers,  manufacturers  and  other 
wage  earners  and  put  an  end  to  the  wealth  producing  class 
of  the  country.  The  second  step  was  to  commandeer  all 
crops  and  means  of  transportation  for  the  use  of  the  army. 
Under  the  requisitioning  laws  all  drugs  and  medical  supplies 

18 


were  exhausted,  and  as  a  result,  disease,  including  typhus, 
typhoid  and  cholera  became  rampant  and  worked  havoc 
among  a  poorly  clad,  half-famished  population.  The  third 
step  was  to  single  out  some  of  the  leading  families  and  most 
progressive  individuals  and  hang  them  or  deport  them  be- 
cause of  their  pro- Arab  or  pro-French  sympathies. 

Thus  Syria,  which  gave  the  world  its  Christ,  its  Bible 
and  its  religious  literature,  is  bleeding  to  death;  and  the 
Syrians,  the  descendants  of  the  Phoenicians,  who  dissemi- 
nated the  alphabet,  and  of  the  Arabs  who  in  the  Middle  Ages 
were  the  only  bearers  of  the  torch  of  civilization,  are  threat- 
ened with  extinction. 

Quoted  from  World  Court  Magazine,  Oct.,  1918. 

IN  AN  ORPHANAGE  OUTSIDE  JAFFA 

Just  outside  the  town  is  a  large  square  building,  before 
the  war  used  as  a  Greek  Orthodox  School,  but  now  the  home 
of  240  small  Syrian  girls  and  boys,  of  ages  varying  from 
3  to  10.  At  first  sight,  the  building  looks  somewhat  dilapi- 
dated, but  that  is  owing  to  war  conditions  and  the  natural 
scarcity  of  paint,  glass,  and  such  things  generally.  The 
sombre  appearance  of  the  place,  however,  is  soon  forgotten 
in  the  presence  of  the  bright,  capable,  English  lady  in  charge 
of  these  stray  mites.  Very  bright  some  of  them  are  now, 
yet  many  still  bear  traces  of  the  awful  suffering  they  have 
undergone.  This  was  notably  the  case  with  one  small  child 
who  lay  in  a  dazed  condition  in  a  temporized  cot,  clutching 
in  his  hand  a  piece  of  bread.  The  father  is  "with  the  Turks," 
the  mother  died  of  starvation,  the  child  was  brought  in  in  a 
dying  condition,  and  is  now  slowly  recovering,  and  the  only 
words  he  has  yet  said  are  "bread"  and  "milk,"  and  he  just 
lies  with  a  crust  as  tightly  clasped  as  his  weak  little  hands 
will  allow.   In  the  same  room,  almost  bare  except  for  these 


19 


cots,  were  several  other  small  children  in  various  stages  of 
recovery  from  ailments,  chiefly  caused  through  lack  of  food, 
and  general  privation. 

The  school  apparatus  is  practically  nil,  even  slates  are 
unobtainable;  so  lessons  have  to  be  of  a  primitive  kind,  and 
are  given  by  some  devoted  Syrian  helpers.  A  very  varied 
diet  is  not  possible,  but  in  comparison  with  the  starvation  of 
the  last  three  years  it  is  most  ample.  Rice,  served  with 
vegetables,  and  periodically  with  meat,  is,  of  course,  the 
principal  dish  for  those  well  enough  for  ordinary  food.  The 
sick  ones  depend  on  condensed  milk  and  other  light  food 
supplied  by  the  relief  fund.  Industrial  work,  immediate  re- 
lief and  medical  work,  including  hospital,  are  also  being 
conducted  at  Jaffa. 

THE  STORY  OF  SEEMA 

Seema  had  been  a  pretty  little  girl,  all  round  curves  and 
dimples,  with  rosy  cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes.  She  had  been 
dressed  richly  in  broadcloths  and  silks  with  strings  of  gold 
coins  around  her  neck  and  bracelets  on  her  arms,  the  petted 
daughter  of  a  wealthy  Armenian  merchant.  But  she  was  a 
pitiful  little  creature  now,  ragged,  thin  and  pale,  cringing 
and  afraid.  For  three  years  she  had  known  only  fear  and 
hunger,  beating  and  abuse  and  bitter  weariness.  Father  and 
brother  had  been  killed,  she  and  her  mother  and  sisters  had 
been  driven  out  of  their  house  and  herded  with  other  Ar- 
menians on  the  endless  march  of  deportation.  Her  sisters 
and  mother  had  died  on  the  road.  Little  Seema  Shushan 
had  struggled  on  alone  for  the  last  few  months,  with  other 
children  and  surviving  refugees,  until  Bethlehem  and  help 
was  reached.  Seema  had  been  six  when  she  was  driven  from 
her  home.  She  was  nine  now.  For  three  weary  years  she 
had  been  wandering.    Her  condition  when  she  reached  the 

20 


American  Relief  Workers  can  best  be  described  by  the  mere 
statement  that  in  all  that  time  she  had  never  seen  soap. 

Think  what  this  means,  mothers  and  fathers  of  tenderly 
nurtured  children.  Now  Seema  is  in  the  orphanage,  but  the 
best  that  we  can  give  her  is  far  less  than  what  she  has  lost. 
And  at  present  the  bare  necessaries  of  life  are  all  that  can  be 
afforded  to  any,  and  then  many— even  children— must  be 
turned  away  because  there  is  not  enough  to  go  around. 


A  COMMON  CASE 


An  Armenian  mother  and  three  children,  turning  up  on 
the  doorstep  of  an  American  Relief  Station  in  the  Southern 
Caucasus.  The  woman  a  mere  collection  of  rags  and  bones, 
with  two  great  black  eyes  gazing  out  over  the  red  fez  which 
covered  her  face ;  three  little  children  clinging  to  her  skirts, 
and  a  sick  skeleton  of  a  baby  in  her  arms. 

Two  years  before  the  woman  and  her  husband  had  pos- 
sessed a  small  holding  in  a  village  beyond  Erzingan,  where 
they  had  lived  and  worked  in  peaceful  content.   When  the 
war  began,  the  little  home  was  disrupted,  the  father  was 
conscripted  to  work  on  the  roads,  and  before  long  the  wife 
and  children  were  forced  to  join  the  deportation  march  with 
thousands  of  others.    After  the  unspeakable  sufferings  of 
the  journey  this  woman  had  succeeded  in  reaching  Alexan- 
dropol,  having  lost  only  one  child  on  the  way. 
1   There  she  is  now  on  the  list  of  employees  in  the  wool 
or  cotton  spinning  departments  of  our  large  refugee  clothes 
making  industry.   This  will  enable  her  to  make  a  home  for 
her  children  and  a  comfortable  living  and  maintain  her  self- 
respect,  while  the  sick  baby  has  gone  on  our  infant-feeding 
list,  and  will  receive  a  bottle  a  day  of  pasteurized  milk. 
Is  not  this  work  worth  doing? 


21 


FROM  A  RELIEF  WORKER  IN  SYRIA 

Jamal  Pasha  was  not  in  favor  of  the  massacres  which 
took  place.  There  were  no  real  massacres  in  his  district. 
I  think  probably  he  did  countenance  the  restricting  of  the 
food  supplies  for  Syria.  He  thus  had  to  sign  the  death 
warrants  for  all  the  Arabs,  Moslems  and  Christians  in 
Beirut. 

We  gave  relief  to  about  15,000  in  the  mountains  and 
Beirut  District.  The  people  bake  their  bread  in  loaves  which 
weigh  about  one  and  a  half  pounds.  Every  individual  gets  a 
quarter  of  a  loaf  a  day.  Fifteen  thousand  people  were 
receiving  this  ration.  They  had  to  make  breakfast,  dinner 
and  supper  of  it.  It  was  not  much,  but  it  kept  them  from 
starvation. 

DEVOTION  OF  MISSIONARIES 

(Extract  from  Ambassador  Morgenthau) 

"I  wish  to  express  my  great  admiration  for  the  splendid 
work  which  our  missionaries  accomplished  as  ministering 
angels  among  their  Armenian  friends  in  their  days  of  sore 
distress  and  trial.  They  carried  their  abnegation  even  so  far 
as  to  desire  to  share  their  fate.  One  of  the  teachers  accom- 
panied her  sixty  girl  pupils  that  were  deported  by  the  Turks. 
An  Armenian  who  had  heard  of  the  incident  said  with  tears 
of  appreciation  in  his  eyes :  "That  is  what  I  call  a  saint  in 
our  days ;  she  ought  to  be  canonized  by  our  church !" 

CHILDREN  EAT  DEAD  CAMEL 

A  crowd  collected  in  the  streets.  One  of  our  workers 
went  up  to  investigate  and  found  that  a  camel  had  died,  and 
a  swarm  of  children  were  pulling  the  raw  flesh  from  the 
bones  and  devouring  it. 


23 


SCRAMBLE  FOR  MELON  RIND 

A  little  incident  illustrating  the  terrible  hunger  experi- 
enced by  thousands  is  told  by  one  of  our  returning  consuls : 
"  "I  was  eating  a  piece  of  melon,"  he  said,  "and  paying 
little  attention  to  the  people  around  me.  I  tossed  aside  the 
rind,  when  instantly  a  man  pounced  upon  it  like  a  hungry 
wolf  He  chewed  on  it  for  a  few  moments  and  then  he  in 
turn  tossed  it  aside.  Another  man  who  had  been  watching 
him  with  the  eyes  of  a  hawk  picked  it  up  and  devoured  the 
rest." 

THE  LAST  LAP 

One  day  a  small  boy,  painfully  emaciated,  his  garments 
in  tatters,  arrived  at  a  relief  station  dragging  a  little  girl 
almost  as  large  as  himself.   "Mother  said  take  care  of  her 
was  all  he  could  say.  An  hour  later  his  brave  spirit  found 
rest    He  had  been  deported  from  an  Armenian  village  with 
his  mother,  a  baby  brother  and  a  little  sister.   Before  many 
days  the  baby  died.   Finally  the  weakened  mother  could  go 
no  further.   The  little  boy  had  traveled  thirty  miles  carry- 
ing and  dragging  his  little  sister,  and  having  given  her  the 
last  of  their  food,  was  just  able  to  leave  her  in  safety  before 
he  died. 

WOMAN  ABANDONS  CHILD 

One  of  our  church  members  in  Teheran  came  running 
in  a  few  days  ago  crying,  "Oh!  give  me  a  little  money.  A 
woman  has  abandoned  her  child  in  the  street,  say.ng  she 
cannot  feed  it,  and  another  is  holding  on  to  her  vol  crying 
bitterly  and  saying,  'Oh!  don't  leave  httle  s.ster;  d n 
leave  little  sister/  "  People  are  eating  the  heads  and  bodte 
of  dead  animals  who  have  died  of  starvat.on  Now  that 
the  grain  is  springing  up  people  are  cutting  and  eatmg  the 
green  blades  of  the  wheat  and  barley.  Dysentery  and  all 
kinds  of  stomach  troubles  are  the  results. 


Map  showing 
Distressed  Districts 
and  Relief  Stations 
supported 
by  the  American 
Committee  for 
Relief  in  the  Near 
East.    The  Places 
marked  are 
Centers  of  Relief 
for  the  Surrounding 
Country  Regions. 


CHILDREN  STARVING  IN  STREETS 

"Whenever  I  go  out  I  see  men  or  women  fallen  on  the 
street,  dead  or  dying;  little  emaciated  children  stretching 
out  their  wasted  hands,  'for  just  one  shahie  for  bread,'  tears 
running  down  their  cheeks,  or  sitting  propped  against  a 
wall,  listless  and  torpid." 

FOOD  DISTRIBUTION 

"We  are  printing  tickets  for  'dampokt,'  rice  cooked  with 
grease  and  meat,  making  a  sort  of  thick  stew  which  is  sold 
for  eight  shahies  a  charak— a  little  more  than  one  pound. 
The  stew  is  sold  in  the  city  from  ten  or  more  centers  and  has 
been  peddled  about  the  streets  by  the  people  who  buy  it  from 
the  big  centers.  We  bought  about  4,000  tickets,  and  dis- 
tribute them  to  those  who  must  have  food  at  once.  Then  the 
houses  are  visited  and  examined,  the  number  of  people  in  a 
family  written  down,  tickets  issued,  and  rice  and  money  dis- 
tributed. We  are  feeding  more  than  1,700  families;  now 
since  the  receipt  of  your  recent  remittance  we  can  reach  four 
or  five  times  that  many  and  open  new  quarters." 

UNBURIED  DEAD  LEFT  IN  STREETS 

"People  are  dying  in  the  streets.  Mr.  Scott  said  a  man 
lay  on  the  street  near  the  English  Legation  just  like  a  dead 
dog — no  one  seemed  to  care  to  see  that  he  was  buried,  and 
this  in  a  city  of  350,000  people  as  some  count  the  population 
of  Teheran !  One  of  our  men  went  into  a  miserable  room, 
dirt  floor,  no  covering  on  it.  A  woman  lay  in  one  corner — no 
food,  no  fire,  no  covering  but  rags — on  a  tattered  piece  of 
matting  about  one  and  a  half  yards  square.  Beside  her  on 
this  scrap  of  matting  lay  a  tiny  baby  born  the  night  before. 
Women  are  confined  in  the  streets  and  in  the  public  square. 

20 


Oh !  there  is  no  end  to  the  terrible  things  that  people  have 
seen." 

THE  STARVING  HELP  EACH  OTHER 

"I  was  walking  along  the  street  a  few  days  ago  and  saw 
a  man  lying  supported  on  another  man's  knee.  This  man 
had  stuffed  some  bits  of  bread  into  the  fallen  man's  mouth, 
but  the  poor  jaws  did  not  move.  The  mouth  remained  half 
opened,  the  eyes  glazed.  The  second  man  begged  me  for  a 
little  money  with  which  to  get  a  glass  of  hot  tea,  which  per- 
haps the  other  man  might  drink.  There  is  something  so 
terribly,  unspeakably  intimate  in  it  all.  There  is  so  much 
that  is  beautiful  in  the  pathetic  way  that  one  poor  starving 
creature  will  help  another. 

PEOPLE  EATING  BLOOD  FROM  SLAUGHTER  HOUSES 

"The  other  day  in  Hamadan  when  Mr.  Edwards  came 
home  he  found  a  man  lying  in  the  street  in  front  of  his  gate 
exhausted  from  hunger  and  weakness.  He  had  him  brought 
into  the  kitchen,  where  they  warmed  him  up  and  revived 
him  with  some  soup  and  food.  While  they  were  busy  with 
him  his  wife  came  along,  her  hands  covered  with  blood. 
When  asked  for  an  explanation  she  said  that  she  had  gone 
to  get  a  little  bread  but  had  not  been  able,  so  she  had  been 
over  to  the  slaughter-house  to  get  some  blood  to  eat.  The 
poor  people  even  fight  for  the  blood  from  the  slaughter- 
houses." 

I     THE  TOLL  OF  FAMINE 

The  following  extracts  are  from  a  letter  written  to  the 
Committee  by  W.  A.  Shedd,  from  Urumia,  Persia : 

"*  *  *  But  famine  has  taken  the  heaviest  toll.  In  the 
course  of  three  weeks  we  buried  over  a  thousand  bodies  that 
had  been  left  unburied  in  the  city.    Previously  hundreds 


27 


had  been  buried,  and  some  have  been  buried  since.  Of  the 
thousand  only  about  twenty  had  been  killed  by  violence. 

WIDOWS  AND  FATHERLESS 

There  are  at  least  400,000  orphan  children  among  the 
refugees.  The  large  majority  of  the  adults  are  women,  many 
of  them  widows  who  do  not  even  know,  in  some  cases,  what 
has  become  of  their  husbands.  They  only  know  that  they 
are  almost  certainly  dead. 

Last  week  we  came  into  a  house  of  which  the  occupants 
had  not  eaten  anything  for  three  days.  The  wife  had  a  child 
in  her  arms  and  tried  to  give  it  a  crumb  of  bread  to  eat.  The 
child  could  not  move ;  it  groaned  and  died  in  her  arms.  In 
this  very  moment  I  came  in  with  C;  he  gave  her  a  lira. 
The  woman  took  it  and  cried,  in  tears:  "Ah,  if  you  had 
brought  this  only  one  day  earlier,  my  child  would  have 
been  still  alive." 

A  family  went  to  bed  hungry;  the  child  could  not  sleep 
and  cried  for  bread.  At  last  the  Arabian  owner  of  the  house 
was  moved  with  compassion  and  gave  the  little  one  a  piece 
of  bread.  The  child  took  it,  was  going  to  eat  it,  but  then 
bethought  himself,  held  it  close  to  him  and  said:  "If  I 
eat  it  now  I  will  be  hungry  again  tomorrow,"  and  with  the 
feeling  to  have  the  bread  near  him,  went  off  to  sleep. 

A  mother  threw  herself  into  the  Euphrates,  after  she 
had  seen  her  child  die  of  hunger;  a  father  did  the  same.  On 
account  of  the  general  dearness,  the  need  increases  very 
much.  When  one  gives  a  few  madjids,  the  people  pay  first 
their  bread  debts,  have  bread  for  a  few  days,  and  hunger 
presents  itself  again.  Whenever  and  wherever  there  is  any 
help,  God  will  use  it  and  us — no  trouble  will  be  too  much 
for  us. 

The  people  live  on  what  we  are  able  to  give  them.  The 


28 


people  that  we  meet  in  the  street  hardly  look  like  human 
beings ;  if  one  has  money  it  is  not  necessary  to  look  for  the 
poor,  you  find  them  in  crowds.  Rich  and  poor  do  not  exist 
any  more.  If  one  should  go  from  door  to  door  distributing 
gifts,  one  could  be  sure  to  have  given  nothing  unnecessary. 
Children  eagerly  picking  grains  from  the  dung  of  animals 
in  the  street  have  become  a  common  sight. 

Seventeen  cents  will  keep  a  child  alive  for  a  day.  Five 
dollars  keeps  one  person  alive  for  a  month.  Sixty  dollars 
keeps  one  person  alive  for  a  year. 

STRIPPED  IN  THE  WILDERNESS 

Many  of  the  refugees  have  been  literally  stripped  in  the 
wilderness.  Children  have  outgrown  their  clothes  in  the 
three  years  of  wandering.  A  boy  of  twelve  came  in  to  one 
of  the  American  Committee's  centres  with  only  a  little  shirt 
on,  not  nearly  big  enough  to  cover  him.  Money  to  buy 
material  for  clothes,  material,  and  needles  and  cotton  and 
sewing  machines,  are  constantly  needed,  that  these  brothers 
and  sisters  of  ours  may  be  clothed. 

A  scanty  pittance  of  food,  just  enough  to  support  life, 
is  all  that  can  be  given  to  each  one  of  those  relieved,  and 
even  then  there  is  not  enough  to  go  round.  With  $30,000,000 
we  can,  humanly  speaking,  save  every  life. 

OF  SUCH   IS  THE  KINGDOM 

Quaint  little  creatures  some  of  the  orphans  are.  There 
are  two  small  boys  named  respectively  Pat  and  David,  aged 
apparently  about  four  years,  who  were  picked  up  by  a  regi- 
ment of  British  soldiers  in  Palestine  and  carried  along  with 
them  until  a  place  of  asylum  was  found.  They  salute  in  the 
most  approved  fashion,  and  are  only  just  getting  over  their 
sorrow  at  parting  from  the  men,  to  whom  they  owe  their 

29 


lives.  No  one  knows  who  they  are.  For  months  they  were 
cared  for  by  "Tommies"  and  were  found  wandering  about, 
too  small  and  too  wretched  to  be  able  to  tell  any  story  even 
had  their  Arabic  been  understood  by  Tommy  Atkins. 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  PEOPLES  WHO  COME 
UNDER  THE  COMMITTEE'S  CARE 

Of  the  3,950,000  destitute  refugees  in  the  Near  East, 
the  principal  groups  are  the  Armenians,  Syrians,  Greeks  and 
Persians.  They  embrace  all  classes  of  society,  from  the 
humblest  and  most  ignorant  peasants,  to  skilled  artisans, 
wealthy  merchants  and  bankers,  and  well  educated  profes- 
sional people  who  have  been  accustomed  to  all  the  refine- 
ments of  life. 

THE  ARMENIANS 

Armenia,  roughly  speaking,  consists  of  the  table  land 
extending  from  the  Caspian  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Ar- 
menia is  not  a  State,  nor  even  a  geographic  unity,  but  is  a 
general  term  for  the  regions  where  the  Armenians  live.  It 
consists  of  Turkish,  Russian  and  Persian  Armenias  with  a 
total  area  of  133,289  square  miles  and  an  Armenian  popula- 
tion of  over  4,250,000  souls. 
Viscount  James  Bryce  thus  speaks  of  the  land : 
"Here  is  a  country  blest  with  every  gift  of  Nature;  a 
fertile  soil,  possessing  every  variety  of  exposure  and  situa- 
tion;  a  mild  and  equable  climate;  mines  of  iron,  copper,  sil- 
ver, and  coal  in  the  mountains ;  a  land  of  exquisite  beauty, 
which  was  once  studded  with  flourishing  cities  and  filled  by 
an  industrious  population. 

"But  now  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Bosphorus  all  is 
silence,  poverty,  despair.  There  is  hardly  a  sail  on  the  sea, 
hardly  a  village  on  the  shores,  hardly  a  road  by  which  com- 

30 


merce  can  pass  into  the  interior.  You  ask  the  cause  and  re- 
ceive from  every  one  the  same  answer — misgovernment,  or 
rather  no  government ;  the  existence  of  a  power  which  does 
nothing  for  its  subjects,  but  stands  in  the  way  when  there 
is  a  chance  of  their  doing  something  for  themselves.  The 
mines,  for  instance,  cannot  be  worked  without  a  concession 
from  Constantinople." 

The  Armenian  inhabitants  of  Turkey  are  people  of  great 
industry,  intelligence  and  aptitude  for  business,  and  their 
success  in  trade  and  in  the  liberal  arts  has  been  a  valuable 
asset  to  the  Turkish  nation.  The  Turkish  grammar,  print- 
ing press  and  theatre  owe  their  origin  to  Armenian  initi- 
ative, and  their  financial  ability  made  them  the  leading  mer- 
chants of  their  country.  The  Turks  have  taken  advantage 
of  the  massacres  and  deportations  to  repudiate  their  debts 
to  Armenians,  and  to  loot  their  houses  and  stores. 

The  special  characteristics  of  Armenian  women  are  sensi- 
tiveness, gentleness  and  refinement.  They  are  artistic  and 
have  contributed  much  to  literature  and  art.  More  devoted 
family  relationships  than  exist  among  the  Armenians  are 
nowhere  to  be  found,  and  this  makes  their  present  position 
agonizing  in  the  extreme.  Many  thousands  in  Europe  and 
America  have  received  no  tidings  of  their  relatives  in 
Turkey  for  over  four  years.  They  do  not  know  whether 
their  loved  ones  are  killed,  deported  or  dragging  out  a  weary 
existence  somewhere  as  refugees. 

The  Armenians  have  been  Christians  since  the  Fourth 
Century,  and  their  national  religion  is  said  to  be  the  oldest 
of  the  Christian  State  Churches.  It  is  called  "The  Gre- 
gorian," after  Gregory  the  Illuminator,  its  founder.  The 
Armenian  church  differs  little  from  the  Greek  church  in 
creed,  but,  unlike  the  Greeks,  the  Armenians  lay  little  stress 
on  theological  doctrines.   They  have  always  been,  however, 

31 


devotedly  trinitarian.  The  Armenians'  loyalty  to  their  church 
is  not  solely  religious,  but  an  expression  of  their  strong 
national  sentiment.  Subjected  to  many  forms  of  political 
misrule,  and  knowing  no  political  independence  or  unity, 
they  have  sought  unity  in  their  church. 

The  part  which  the  Armenians  played  in  the  world  war 
has  been  fully  dealt  with  by  Ambassador  Morgenthau. 
Many  of  the  Russian  Armenians,  early  in  1915,  fought 
bravely  with  the  Russian  Armies  against  the  Turks,  and  the 
Turkish  Armenians,  after  discovering  that  they  had  nothing 
to  hope  for  by  aiding  the  so-called  New  Turk  government, 
also  became  Pro-Ally  in  their  sympathies.   When  the  Turk- 
ish Armenians  of  Van,  however,  were  conscripted  into  the 
Turkish  army,  they  went  for  the  most  part  without  violent 
protest,  until  they  found  that  this  conscription  was  really 
a  method  of  gaining  control  of  the  male  population,  disarm- 
ing them,  making  them  practically  beasts  of  burden  and  pack 
animals  for  the  Turkish  army,  and  thus  rendering  the  Ar- 
menians less  able  to  combat  against  the  wholesale  massacres 
and  deportations  which  were  to  follow.    When  the  cold- 
blooded measures  were  eventually  carried  into  effect  to 
exterminate  all  the  Christians  in  Turkey,  one  million  men, 
women  and  children  were  shot,  hung,  starved  and  tortured. 

THE  SYRIANS 

The  Syrians,  inhabitants  of  Palestine,  are  a  mixed  Semitic 
race,  descended  from  the  Phoenicians  and  Aramaeans  of 
Bible  times,  and  including  also  Arab  ancestry.  Massacre 
and  deportation  have  not  flung  their  gaunt  shadows  across 
Palestine,  but  the  spectre  of  Famine  has  stalked  broadcast 
through  the  land,  claiming  its  victims  by  the  hundred  De- 
struction of  crops,  failure  of  transportation  of  supplies 
uncertainty  of  government  in  the  face  of  the  advancing 

33 


British  army  have  united  to  invite  the  presence  of  this  most 
subtle  of  War's  handmaidens. 

The  Jews  have  shared  this  suffering,  added  to  as  it  has 
been  incalculably  by  influx  of  thousands  of  refugees  from 
the  interior  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  seeking  safety  behind 
the  British  lines.  The  Jews  in  America  are  sharing  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the 
Near  East  for  the  brethren  in  the  Promised  Land. 

New  fields  for  aid  were  opened  up  here  by  the  advance 
of  General  Allenby's  army  and  the  subsequent  surrender  of 
Turkey,  and  the  Red  Cross  Armenian-Syrian  Relief  Commis- 
sion augmented  by  the  American  colony  in  Jerusalem  and 
the  English-Syrian  Palestine  Relief  Committee  are  now  pro- 
viding emergency  relief  to  the  most  destitute,  and  are  be- 
ginning to  provide  work  for  the  women  and  orphanages  for 
the  children.  America  must  give  further  aid,  if  this  work 
is  to  be  continued  adequately. 

GREEKS 

The  story  of  Armenian  suffering  in  Turkey  is  paralleled, 
with  certain  modifications  by  the  experiences  of  the  Greeks, 
of  whom  there  were  5,000,000  under  Turkish  domination  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war. 

The  Greeks  had  built  up  a  sound  prosperity  and  had 
established  many  kinds  of  successful  business  enterprises 
and  educational  institutions.  The  war  brought  to  them  the 
seizure  of  their  .property,  the  drafting  of  their  men  for  the 
hardest  kind  of  military  tasks,  and  subsequent  persecution 
and  deportation. 

The  Turks  adopted  almost  identically  the  same  procedure 
against  the  Greeks,  says  Ambassador  Morgenthau,  as  that 
which  they  had  adopted  against  the  Armenians.  They 
began  by  incorporating  the  Greeks  into  the  Ottoman  army, 


33 


and  then  transforming  them  into  labor  battalions.  These 
Greek  soldiers,  just  like  the  Armenians,  died  by  thousands 
from  cold,  hunger  and  other  privations.  The  same  house- 
to-house  searches  for  hidden  weapons  took  place  in  the 
Greek  villages,  and  the  Greek  men  and  women  were  beaten 
and  tortured  just  as  were  their  fellow  Armenians.  Greek 
girls  were  stolen  and  taken  to  Turkish  harems  and  Greek 
boys  were  kidnapped  and  placed  in  Moslem  households. 
The  Turks  used  the  desire  of  the  Greeks  for  independence 
as  an  excuse  for  a  violent  onslaught  on  the  whole  race. 
Everywhere  the  Greeks  were  gathered  together  in  groups, 
and  under  the  so-called  protection  of  Turkish  gendarmes, 
they  were  transported,  the  larger  part  on  foot,  into  the 
interior.  Just  how  many  were  scattered  in  this  fashion  is 
not  known,  the  estimates  of  the  number  who  have  become 
destitute  refugees  varying  anywhere  from  200,000  up  to 
1,000,000. 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Macrides,  a  Greek  refugee  escaped  to 
New  York,  describes  their  plight  as  follows : 

"Deportation  in  Asia  Minor  is  a  euphemism  for  the  most 
heartless  and  relentless  cruelty.  It  means  the  loss  of  home, 
business  property  and  every  personal  possession.  It  means 
being  driven  into  the  desert  places,  forced  to  march  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet  until  strength  is  exhausted ;  being  re- 
fused shelter,  food  and  drink;  subject  to  outrage  and  cal- 
culated cruelty;  facing  always,  death  by  violence  or  from 
the  cumulative  effect  of  exposure,  sickness  and  starvation, 
The  people  are  herded  and  goaded  like  animals.  The  des- 
perate refugees  subsist  chiefly  on  offal ;  graze  like  cattle  on 
the  roots  of  scanty  grass  tufts  that  push  their  dry  and  dusty 
stems  above  the  sandy  soil.  It  is  impossible  for  words  to 
give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  tragedy  of  bare  existence  under 
such  awful  conditions.    Many  dropped  by  the  roadside,  to 


34 


die  where  they  fell.  Others  that  I  know  of  went  insane. 
And  that  was  only  at  the  beginning.  They  are  still  marching 
on." 

THE  PERSIANS 

The  Turkish  and  Russian  armies  both  fought  in  Persian 
territory,  the  latter  having  surged  back  and  forth  across  it 
six  times  before  the  war  ended.  Under  these  conditions  it 
has  been  almost  impossible  to  cultivate  the  crops.  The  mas- 
sacre of  Christians  and  the  flight  of  the  survivors  into  Rus- 
sia deprived  Persia  of  thousands  of  the  agricultural  popu- 
lation. 

These  facts  have  reduced  the  country  to  a  state  of  famine, 
the  accounts  of  which  surpass  in  horror  anything  in  history 
since  the  Roman  siege  of  Jerusalem. 

To-day,  representatives  of  the  American  Committee  for 
Relief  in  the  Near  East  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  principal 
cities  of  Persia,  helping  the  inhabitants  to  earn  their 
daily  bread. 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  and  cablegrams  de- 
scribe the  conditions  with  which  the  relief  work  has  to  cope : 

"August  1,  1918. 

"Forty  thousand  Christian  refugees  from  Urumia  have 
passed  Byar  en  route  Hamadan  and  are  followed  by  40,000 
more  is  the  report.  Epidemics  and  hunger  cause  many 
deaths.  Turks  give  up  pursuit  but  rear  parties  have  been 
robbed  of  everything."  .  .  .  "15,000  are  said  to  have  been 
massacred  or  died  en  route.  British  organizing  refugee 
camps,  hospitals,  but  our  assistance  required  immediately." 

From  Mr.  Cauldwell,  American  Minister,  Teheran,  Octo- 
ber :  "Influenza  is  spreading  rapidly  and  the  retail  price  of 
a  pound  of  quinine  is  $125.00.  The  American  Relief  Com- 
mission has  an  enormous  supply  of  medicine  which  is  very 
much  needed,  together  with  a  stock  of  cotton,  cotton  cloth- 

35 


ing  for  the  poor,  two  motors,  Ford  trucks,  etc.  The  British 
military  forces  have  requested  that  headquarters  be  estab- 
lished in  Mesopotamia  at  Bakubah  district  persons  not  of 
military  age  and  women  are  being  maintained,  reported 
from  30,000  to  70,000;  those  of  military  age  being  pressed 
into  service. 

"In  order  to  care  for  the  poor  and  the  refugees  in  Teheran 
and  in  other  parts  of  Persia,  it  can  be  seen  from  the 
foregoing  that  additional  funds  and  help  will  still  be  neces- 
sary. It  has  been  reported  that  about  15,000  Armenian 
refugees  have  come  from  Baku  to  Resht.  There  are  pros- 
pects of  them  returning. 

"Without  further  assistance  the  American  missionaries 
and  Legation  staff  will  be  unable  to  carry  on  the  work  during 
the  winter,  as  three  of  the  American  missionaries  died  as 
result  of  hard  work." 

"June:  "We  have  been  oh!  so  busy  with  relief  work  all 
these  months.  .  .  .  Thousands  of  dollars  are  being  dis- 
tributed every  week.  For  the  past  two  weeks  conditions 
have  been  terrible.  People  crazed  with  hunger,  refusing 
food  to  their  own  children — driving  the  children  out  to  the 
street  to  beg  for  food  or  money.  The  poor  little  skeletons 
wander  about,  many  of  them  too  little  to  beg.  ...  A  woman 
killed  and  ate  her  own  child.  When  outraged  people  called 
her  to  account  she  replied:  Tt  was  my  own  child,  not  an- 
other's.' People  in  eating  human  flesh  appear  to  have  for- 
gotten everything — have  lost  human  consciousness — have 
even  forgotten  their  names." 

"We  cannot  buy  sugar,  it  is  more  than  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter  a  pound." 

"People  are  in  such  terrible  need  that  they  take  the 
beams  and  joists  out  of  their  houses  and  sell  them — literally 
destroying  their  houses.    Then  they  ?o  live  under  the  trees 


3(5 


or  in  corners  of  the  streets.  Clothes,  furniture,  pots,  car- 
pets, anything  that  will  bring  a  little  money  the  people  sell 
or  pawn.    Mothers  sell  their  daughters." 

"The  food  situation  is  desperate  here  now,  and  with  it 
has  come  the  inevitable  sickness  and  death.  ...  I  sincerely 
hope  our  cablegrams  will  wake  things  up  back  there  in  the 
States." 

"There  are  thousands  of  Kurdish  and  Urumia  Syrian 
and  Armenian  refugees  here,  and  the  Relief  Committee  with 
funds  from  America  are  trying  to  keep  them  from  starving 
and  freezing  to  death.  I  have  been  busy  since  fall  superin- 
tending quilt  making,  sewing  clothing,  and  am  now  looking 
after  sewing  of  cloth  for  orphans.  Mr.  Richards  is  having 
the  clothes  made  on  hand  looms  for  refugees,  from  wool 
which  has  to  be  prepared  first  for  thread.  We  get  it  just 
as  it  comes  from  the  sheep's  back." 

The  latest  reports  from  Persia  throw  much  light  on  na- 
tional conditions  and  the  kind  of  reconstruction  that  is 
needed  there. 

The  poverty  of  the  native  population,  as  well  as  of  the 
refugees  among  their  borders,  is  great,  and  is  at  least  partly 
due  to  the  exceedingly  high  price  of  food  For  this  there  are 
two  reasons-^the  hoarding  of  wheat  on  the  part  of  wealthy 
land-owners  to  force  up  the  price,  and  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  transportation. 

There  are  no  railways,  and  pack-animals  have  died  in  large 
numbers  of  insufficient  food. 

The  British  army  in  Persia  has  been  of  invaluable  help 
in  relief  work,  aiding  in  transport,  donation  of  clothing  and 
food,  and  in  the  maintenance  of  order.  The  Armenian  refu- 
gees, when  provided  with  ploughs  and  seed,  will  be  of 
service  to  their  Persian  hosts  by  showing  them  better  and 
more  efficient  methods  of  farming. 

37 


The  future  needs  of  Persia  are,  above  all: 

1.  A  good  transportation  system. 

2.  An  improved  land-system. 

American  prestige  in  Persia  is  at  present  very  great,  and 
likely  to  increase  under  the  influence  of  the  Commission  to 
Persia  recently  sent  out  by  the  American  Committee  for 
Relief  in  the  Near  East. 

Dr.  Harry  Pratt  Judson,  president  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  is  at  the  head  of  this  Commission,  and  Dr.  Wilbur 
M.  Post,  who  was  War  Field  Secretary  for  the  American 
Red  Cross  for  Western  Asia  Union  during  the  Balkan 
War  1912-13,  is  also  a  member  of  it.  This  commission  is 
taking  Ford  cars  and  transport  trucks,  seeds  for  planting, 
sewing  machines  and  medical  supplies,  and  is  setting  to 
work  in  a  thoroughly  efficient  manner  to  deal  with  the 
present  situation  and  begin  reconstruction  for  the  future. 

Large  and  increasing  funds  are  needed. 


NO  GOVERNMENT  AID  AVAILABLE 

We  are  able  to  show  the  new  spirit  of  internationalism  as 
a  nation  by  making  government  loans  of  millions  of  dollars 
to  Belgium,  France,  Serbia  and  other  allied  nations  to  help 
support  their  war  orphans  and  war-stricken  civilian  popula- 
tion. But  there  is  at  present  no  government  to  which  loans 
can  be  made  for  use  on  behalf  of  the  millions  of  homeless 
destitutes  in  the  Near  East. 

Our  task  here,  therefore,  is  not  merely  supplementing 
government  grants,  but  bearing  for  a  time  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility. It  affords  a  unique  opportunity  for  every  man, 
woman  and  child  to  express  individually  the  spirit  of  inter- 
nationalism and  democracy  that  has  inspired  the  war-aims 
of  America  and  the  speeches  of  President  Wilson.  It  gives 

38 


us  all  a  chance  to  help  in  the  making  of  nations,  and  the 
literal  and  direct  saving  of  life. 

As  soon  as  order  is  restored  in  the  Near  East,  an  effort 
will  be  made  to  provide  proper  government  assistance  to 
these  unfortunate  peoples  who  have  suffered  so  bitterly  in 
the  war  because  of  their  pro-ally  sympathies.  But  in  the 
meantime  the  situation  must  be  met  by  the  whole-hearted 
individual  support  of  the  democracy  of  America. 

HOW  SOME  GIVE 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  typical  letter  received 
by  the  Committee  from  a  minister  and  his  wife: 

"Though  financially  limited  ourselves,  receiving  a  salary 
of  but  $60  per  month  as  pastor  of  churches,  we  have  de- 
cided to  give  one-half  of  this  amount  monthly  for  six  months 
to  relieve  Armenian  suffering  and  destitution,  desiring  the 
consolation  only  of  Him  who  centuries  ago  in  those  lands 
said:  'I  was  hungry  and  ye  gave  me  to  eat;  I  was  thirsty 
and  ye  gave  me  drink ;  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in ; 
naked  ye  clothed  me ;  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  me ;  I  was  in 
prison  and  ye  came  unto  me.'  " 

(Reprinted  from  "The  Work  of  the  American  Red  Cross") 

FINANCIAL  STATEMENT  OF  RED  CROSS  WAR 
FUND,  MARCH  1,  1918 

I.    Efficient  Administration 
"The  American  Committee  for  Armenian  and  Syrian 
Relief*  was  organized  in  October,  1915,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  immediate  relief  for  Armenians  and  Syrians,  cabled 
reports  of  whose  persecutions  were  at  that  time  just  begin- 

*Now  the  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the  Near  East. 

39 


ning  to  reach  this  country.  Since  October  1,  1915,  it  has 
received  from  all  sources  and  distributed  for  relief  approx- 
imately $9,000,000. 

"The  entire  admininstrative  expenses  of  this  Committee 
are  met  privately,  enabling  it  to  devote  to  distinctly  relief 
work  100  cents  of  every  dollar  received  for  this  purpose. 
The  work  of  distribution  in  Asia  is  handled  by  100  or  more 
responsible  American  citizens,  consuls,  physicians,  educa- 
tors and  others  who  give  their  services  to  relief  administra- 
tion without  salary  or  expense  to  the  relief  funds.  The  Com- 
mittee's audited  reports  show  that  some  $25,000  more  has 
been  spent  for  relief  than  has  been  received  in  contributions, 
the  difference  being  accounted  for  by  the  interest  on  daily 
balances.  ***** 

"As  an  instance  of  the  business-like  methods  employed,  it 
was  reported  late  in  the  fall  of  1917  that  food  prices  were 
rapidly  advancing  in  Turkey,  Armenia,  Syria  and  the  Cau- 
casus, and  that  by  the  time  winter  came  food  would,  in  all 
probability,  be  cornered  to  such  an  extent  that  prices  would 
be  much  higher  than  at  the  time  of  writing.  Accordingly, 
the  Red  Cross,  at  the  request  of  the  American  Committee, 
appropriated  in  October,  $600,000  for  the  months  of  No- 
vember and  December,  1917,  to  make  possible  the  purchase 
of  food  at  the  lower  rate.  The  actual  record  of  prices  as 
later  reported  during  the  winter  months  shows  that  at  least 
$500,000  was  saved  by  this  advance  purchase. 

II.   The  Need  for  Relief 

"The  field  of  operations  includes  not  only  Asia  Minor 
with  those  portions  of  Armenia  and  Syria  that  are  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire,  but  also  the  large  section  of  Armenia  until 
recently  dominated  by  the  Russian  Army,  as  well  as  the 
Russian  Caucasus,  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  Palestine,  and  por- 


40 


tions  of  Egypt  and  Macedonia,  into  which  regions  Armeni- 
ans Syrians  and  Greeks  have  fled  in  large  numbers.  Of  the 
Armenians,  about  1,000,000  were  massacred  or  driven  to 
U  their  death  during  the  summer  of  1915,  and  the  remainder 
•  within  Turkish  dominions  were  deported  from  their  homes 
into  the  deserts  or  other  regions  where  self-support  was  prac- 
tically impossible. 

"For  months  innumerable  cables  relating  details  of  the 
most  terrible  suffering  and  deplorable  conditions  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Asia  Minor  have  been  received  by  the  Com- 
mittee On  January  15,  1918,  American  Consul  Smith,  at 
Tiflis  in  the  Russian  Caucasus,  cabled  that  the  condition  of 
the  refugees  there  was  critical ;  that  the  responsibilities  were 
almost  entirely  on  the  American  Committee ;  that  it  was 
besieged  by  appeals  from  all  districts,  delegations  of  hungry 
people  often  numbering  100,  coming  long  distances,  begging 
for  bread,  and  refusing  to  leave  without  food  or  promises. 

ATTITUDE  OF  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  COUNCILS 
OF  DEFENSE 
National  Council  of  Defense 
Mr  Elliott  D.  Smith,  of  the  Field  Division  of  the  Counci 
of  Defense,  has  in  his  possession  the  necessary  material 
upon  which  State  Councils  of  Defense  may  base  their  en- 
dorsements.    He  will  be  glad  to  have  referred  to  him  any 
difficulties  our  Committees  might  experience  in  obtaining 
the  endorsement  of  a  State  Council  of  Defense. 

The  National  Council  of  Defense  through  this  Executive 
Committee  has  refused  to  endorse  any  relief  orgamzatun 
which  is  not  directly  connected  with  one  or  more :  bureau 
of  the  Government.  Officials  of  the  National  Counci  of 
Defense,  however,  have  personally  expressed  their  sympathy 
and  their  desire  to  cooperate  with  our  Campaign. 

41 


State  Councils  of  Defense 

Endorsements  are  being  daily  received  from  State  Coun- 
cils of  Defense.  Thirty-two  of  the  forty-eight  State  Coun- 
cils of  Defense  have  at  this  writing  endorsed  the  work  of 
the  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the  Near  East.  The 
action  of  a  few  is  given  below : 

Connecticut — "We  already  have  the  name  of  your  or- 
ganization, of  course,  among  those  which  has  been  approved 
in  this  State,  and  we  congratulate  you  upon  the  very  remark- 
able work  that  you  are  doing,  and  the  business-like  way  in 
which  it  is  handled." 

Minnesota — "When  you  are  ready  to  make  your  cam- 
paign in  Minnesota  I  assure  you  this  department  will  be 
very  glad  to  assist  you  in  any  way." 

Nebraska — "In  view  of  the  information  pertaining  to 
the  conduct  of  your  campaign  for  Armenian  and  Syrian  Re- 
lief, the  Nebraska  State  Council  of  Defense  extends  you 
its  endorsement." 

New  Jersey — "This  will  inform  you  that  at  a  meeting  of 
our  Executive  Committee  on  the  23rd  instant  the  endorse- 
ment which  you  desire  for  the  American  Committee  for 
Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief  in  the  matter  of  soliciting  funds 
in  the  State  of  New  Jersey  was  gladly  extended. 

Oregon — Governor  Withycombe  is  Honorary  Chairman 
of  our  Committee.  Some  County  Councils  conduct  our 
campaign. 

Washington — State  Council  has  endorsed  movement,  ac- 
cepted State  quota  and  assigned  definite  quota  to  every 
county. 

Wyoming — "I  most  heartily  approve  of  the  purposes  of 
your  Society,  and  trust  that,  when  the  people  of  Wyoming, 
as  well  as  other  States,  are  given  an  opportunity  to  con- 
tribute, they  will  do  so  generously  and  without  stint. 

42 


NOT  SHARING,  BUT  GIVING  THEIR  ALL 

At  the  foot  of  Mt.  Ararat  cluster  the  Armenians,  truly 
"the  people  of  the  Ararat."  Nestling  under  its  shoulder  is 
Etchmiadzin,  where  Gregory  the  Illuminator  received  the 
vision  that  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  the  Armenian  na- 
tion, far  back  in  the  year  303.  On  that  spot  is  built  the 
venerable  church  about  which  all  the  history  of  this  ever- 
persecuted  nation  centers.  There  to  this  day  is  the  seat  of 
the  Catholikos,  or  head  of  the  Armenian  Church,  whom  I 
had  visited  the  day  before  I  went  to  Kanakar. 

Kanakar  was  a  "sample"  village,  where  about  fifty 
orphans  were  receiving  relief  from  the  American  Commit- 
tee. The  place  itself  contains  about  three  hundred  mud 
houses,  of  the  conventional  one-story  type.  It  is  entirely 
agricultural,  having  no  manufactures.  Into  two  hundred 
and  ten  of  these  houses  refugees  who  have  made  the  long 
journey  from  devastated  Armenia  have  been  taken,  to  the 
total  number  of  about  one  thousand  persons,  mostly  women 
and  children,  of  course. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  the  charity  of  the  poor  villagers 
to  whom  the  smitten  refugees  have  turned,  the  tale  of 
Armenian  dead  would  be  nearly  double  its  present  total  of 
a  million.  These  people  who  in  their  poverty  have  shared 
their  all  are  the  really  great  givers  toward  this  cause.  No 
momentary  impulse  of  generosity  has  led  them  to  contribute 
what  money  they  could  spare;  they  have  given  of  their 
homes,  their  fires,  their  food,  their  clothes,  and  have  done 
so  continuously.   No  honor  roll  of  these  givers  is  kept  this 

side  of  the  pearly  gates.  _  .    .       .     -  fVl . 

The  plan  of  orphan  relief  is  simple.  It  u  the  rule  of  the 
Armenian  Committee  in  Erivan  to  give  no  money  to  men 
or  women,  except  the  latter  be  senously  ,  11 ;  work  ,t  does 
provide  for  a  few  adults  by  its  wonderful  mdustnal  estab- 


43 


lishment.  For  one  child  out  of  a  family  of  orphans,  it  pro- 
vides a  stipend  of  six  roubles  monthly,  increased  at  the  time 
of  our  visit  to  ten  roubles,  owing  to  the  depreciation  of  the 
rouble,  which  is  now  worth  less  than  ten  cents. 

Each  case  is  investigated  by  men  trained  in  the  mission 
schools  of  the  American  Board,  some  having  been  ministers 
or  professors  back  in  Armenia.  This  relief  work,  I  found 
will  stand  the  acid  test  of  the  Associated  Charities  or  of  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation;  for  there  is  system  in  it  all,  down 
to  the  minutest  detail.  Nobody  need  fear  that  Armenian 
relief  funds  are  either  wasted  or  given  to  the  undeserving. 

Wm.  T.  Ellis,  Swarthmore,  Pa. 

TESTIMONY  FROM  UNITED  STATES  CONSULAR 
AGENTS 

I  believe  there  is  no  place  in  the  world  where  there  is  greater  and 
more  urgent       d  of  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  8     ter  and 

surviving  Christian  population  in  the  Turkish  Empire 

the  nT,T^fr°m  3  PrT"al  knoWled^  of  the  situation,  as  during 
the  past  three  years  I  have  been  located  at  Harpoot,  and  there  wa 
brought  into  close  contact  with  the  distress  and  mise  y  of  thousand 
of  homeless  and  destitute  women  and  children  who  are  absolute^ 
dependent  upon  charity  for  their  subsistence  Cutely 
For  the  past  two  years  systematic  relief  has  been  regularlv  eiven 

turned  away  owtg  t  SLSZ  KSuK 
St  3117  mStance  was  the  ^lief  given  adequate  for  their  needs 

obtined       "         5  eX'Stm!S  C°ndi,i0ns  th"e  »  "0  work  to  be 

wretched  and  helpless  cond.tion  that  they  cannot  long 
44 


survive  if  help  is  not  received.  In  fact,  many  did  die  last  winter 
for  lack  of  food.    Present  conditions  are  more  critical  than  ever. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  by  which  funds  can  continue  to 
be  sent  there  without  any  risk  of  loss,  and  if  it  can  be  done  in  this 
difficult  interior  district,  there  can  be  little  doubt  about  reaching 
all  other  parts  of  Turkey  where  relief  is  being  distributed. 

Signed, 

LESLIE  A.  DAVIS. 


As  first  Secretary  of  -the  American  Embassy  at  Constantinople 
from  before  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  until  nearly  a  month 
after  Turkey  broke  diplomatic  relations  with  the  United  States,  I 
have  had  constant  and  close  relations  with  the  distributors  of  relief 
among  the  Armenian,  Syrian  and  Greek  refugees  in  that  country. 
As  Ambassador  Elkus  was  the  chairman  of  the  Distributing  Com- 
mittee I  was  brought  officially  into  close  contact  with  all  that  work. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  extreme  need.  The  distress  among 
the  stricken  people  is  beyond  any  power  of  words  to  describe.  Phe 
present  monthly  appropriations  of  the  Committee  meet  this  need  to 
a  limited  degree.  Up  to  the  time  the  Embassy  left  Constantinople 
the  Turkish  officials  were  generally  friendly  to  the  American  mem- 
bers of  the  Relief  Committee.  Certain  reports  from  the  interior 
show  that  they  were  not  only  friendly,  but  helpful  m  aiding  the 
relief  agents  in  securing  supplies  and  in  coming  into  contact  with 

^TheTmerican  missionaries  who  have  had  main  charge  of  relief 
measures,  work  without  pay,  and  owing  to  the w  wdee*P eru ««, 
knowledge  of  the  people  of  the  country  and  the*  langua g, u  ejhe 
limited  funds  at  their  disposal  in  the  most  economical  manner^ 

tens  of  thousands.  No  appeal  comes  w-th  greater  fore where 
the  necessity  is  more  urgent  than  for  the  refugees  >n  Turkey. 

Signed, 

C.  CORNELL  TARLAR. 


45 


Translation  from  the  French  of  a  telegram  received  by 
the  Armenian  Benevolent  Union.  Referred  by  Mr.  Kurkjian 
and  Mr.  Karagheusian  to  our  Committee. 

Cairo,  Egypt,  October  30,  1918. 
Thousands  of  sufferers  delivered  in  Syria  are  reduced  to  horrible 
misery.  Our  resources  are  insufficient.  Try  to  obtain  contributions 
from  the  (Armenian)  National  Union  for  our  relief.  Cooperation 
with  the  Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief  Society  is  indispensable  in 
order  to  organize  together  the  work  of  assistance.  We  have  great 
need  of  competent  sisters  and  women  devoted  to  direct  our  schools 
and  orphanage  work.   Launch  an  appeal. 

Signed,  ARTIN  PASHA. 

ENDORSEMENTS  FROM  PUBLIC  MEN 
President  Woodrow  Wilson— "American  diplomatic  and  consular 
representatives  and  other  American  residents  recently  returned  from 
Western  Asia,  assure  me  that  many  thousands  of  lives  were  saved 
from  starvation  by  the  gifts  of  the  American  people  last  winter 
They  also  bring  full  assurance  of  the  continued  effective  distribu 
tion  of  relief,  and  report  that  the  suffering  and  death  from  exposure 
and  starvation  will  inevitably  be  much  greater  this  winter  than  last 
unless  the  survivors  can  be  helped  by  further  contributions  from 
Amenca    In  view  of  the  urgent  need,  I  call  again  upon  the  people 
of  the  United  States  to  make  such  further  contributions  as  they  feel 
disposed,  in  their  sympathy  and  generosity,  for  the  aid  of  the 
suffering  peoples." 

Ex-President  William  H.  Taft   "The  Armenian  Relief  has  been 

wen  3  7V°:  S°me  yfrS;  k  ne6dS  m°re  mo™y>  jt  is  ending 
well  and  effectively;  lt  is  helping  the  poor  people  of  the  Near  East 

iW  veTw  nT  Y°U  ^  be  SUre  that  whate-r  money 

sorely »  Pr°Perly  administered  for  a  people  that  need  it 

theTw^REofR°0S,ET^Tith  aU  my  heart  1  wish  y™  G°d*Peed  in 
Westlrn  A  I  /°U  W  Undertake*  *>r  the  Christians  in 
effort  o  £  ParticuIar1^  do  I  wish  you  success  in  your 

and   ^^^00  for  the  maintenance  of  the  tens  of  thou- 

ound  in  th??  °ther  refugees  and  suffere".  wherever 

Turkey"  ™'  *  Pc"ia'  in  P4Uestine'  <*  '**  the  interior  of 


46 


r 

Charles  E.  Hughes — "Out  of  the  horror  and  nightmare  through 
which  these  people  have  passed  comes  the  gratifying  word  that  we 
can  be  of  assistance,  that  our  efforts  will  prove  availing,  and  that 
we  can  share  with  them  the  bounty  which  we,  as  Americans,  have 

"^enjoyed  for  years.  The  work  done  by  this  committee  has  been 
most  unselfish  and  effective  under  conditions  of  great  personal 

I  sacrifice.    May  America  respond  to  their  appeals." 


THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE,  WASHINGTON 

November  27,  1918. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Buck: 

I  understand  that  the  Jefferson  County  War  Chest  has  under 
consideration  an  appropriation  to  the  American  Committee  for 
Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief.  I  am  very  glad  to  give  my  hearty 
endorsement  to  the  work  which  the  American  Committee  for 
Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief  has  been,  and  is  doing  in  Western 
Asia.  It  has  probably  been  the  largest  single  factor  in  keeping 
alive  many  thousands  of  deported  women  and  children  of  the  sub- 
ject races  of  Turkey,  and  its  present  program  of  relief  and  rehabili- 
tation is  worthy  of  the  fullest  possible  support. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

ROBERT  LANSING. 


THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY,  WASHINGTON 

December  23,  1918. 

My  dear  Mr.  Hinshaw:  ...  a 

I  need  not  tell  you  how  deeply  I  am  interested  in  the  good 
work  which  the  American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the  Near  East  is 
undertaking.  In  all  the  horrors  of  war  the  hearts  of  our  people 
have  gone  out  particularly  to  the  peoples  for  whom  the  cam- 
paign is  being  waged  to  raise  thirty  million  dollars  for  their 
and  help  in  these  days  of  need.  The  American  Commute 
for  Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief  has  done  a  great  work  for 
humanity  in  days  of  peril  and  I  feel  sure  all  Americans  w.  1  feel 
it  a  privilege  to  make  contribution  to  the  larger  measures  of  help 
to  these  persecuted  peoples. 

Sincerely  youfs, 

JOSEPHUS  DANIELS. 

47 


December  2,  1918.  / 

My  Dear  Mr.  Millar: 

The  relief  work  carried  on  by  the  American  Committee  in  the 
Near  East  on  behalf  of  Armenians,  Syrians,  Jews,  Greeks  and  Per- 
sians in  Western  Asia,  affords  a  pressing  and  an  appealing  oppor- 
tunity for  the  American  people  to  support  a  humanitarian  cause.  I 
most  heartily  endorse  your  Thirty  Million  Dollar  Campaign,  cul- 
minating in  a  drive  January  12th  to  19th,  and  I  bespeak  for  you 
the  hearty  cooperation  and  support  of  all  the  workers  who  took 
part  in  the  United  War  Work  Campaign,  and  those  associated  with 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  throughout  the  country. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

J.  R.  MOTT. 

MOTION  PICTURES  TO  AID  CAMPAIGN 

An  elaborate  motion  picture  has  been  prepared  by  the 
Committee  to  present  in  dramatic  form  the  tragedy  of  Ar- 
menia to  the  American  public.  Pains  have  been  taken  to 
ensure  that  this  picture  shall  be  an  authentic  document,  and 
its  details  are  based  on  the  Bryce  Report,  the  speeches  of 
Lord  Robert  Cecil  in  England,  and  many  direct  and  reputable 
eye-witnesses  of  the  events  portrayed.  This  picture  will  be 
shown  in  your  locality  early  in  the  year,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Committee,  and  by  urging  people  to  see  it  you  will 
be  directly  aiding  the  campaign. 


48 


American  Committee  for  Relief  in  the  Near  East 

One  Madison  Ave.,  New  York 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE  AND  OFFICERS 

James  L.  Barton  Chairman 

Samuel  T.  Dutton  William  B.  Millar 

Vice-Chairman        Director-General  of  Campaign 
Charles  V.  Vickrey. . .  .Secretary     Cleveland  H.  Dodge.  .Treasurer 


George  T.  Scott 
Henry  Morgenthau 

NATIONAL 
Hon.  William  Howard  Taft 
Hon.  Charles  Evans  Hughes 
Frederick  H.  Allen 
James  L.  Barton 
Charles  E.  Beury 
Arthur  J.  Brown 
Edwin  M.  Bulkley 
John  B.  Calvert 
Wm.  I.  Chamberlain 
Charles  R.  Crane 
I  Cleveland  H.  Dodge 
Charles  W.  Eliot 
William  T.  Ellis 
James  Cardinal  Gibbons 
Jerome  D.  Greene 
Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer 
Fred  P.  Haggard 
Harold  A.  Hatch 
William  I.  Haven 
Alexander  J.  Hemphill 
Myron  T.  Herrick 
Hamilton  Holt 
Frank  W.  Jackson 
Arthur  Curtiss  James 
Woodbury  G.  Langdon 
Frederick  Lynch 
Vance  C.  McCormick 


Edwin  M.  Bulkley 
Alexander  J.  Hemphill 

COMMITTEE 
Charles  S.  MacFarland 
William  B.  Millar 
Henry  Morgenthau 
John  R.  Mott 
Frank  Mason  North 
George  A.  Plimpton 
Rt.  Rev.  P.  Rhinelander 
Karl  Davis  Robinson 
William  W.  Rockwell 
Wm.  Jay  Schieffelin 
George  T.  Scott 
Albert  Shaw 

William  Sloane 

Edward  Lincoln  Smith 

James  M.  Speers 

Oscar  S.  Straus 

Harry  A.  Wheeler 

Stanley  White 

Ray  Lyman  Wilbur 

Talcott  Williams 

Stephen  S.  Wise 

Chairmen  of 
Local  Committees 
Are  Ex-Officio  Members 
of  the 
National  Committee 


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